"Chisnall creates art that references such things as structure, time and Modernism as they pass through a very contemporary mindset that focuses on humor, transience, functionality and futility.”
D. Dominick Lambardi, 'Repurposing With a Passion', The Huffington Post.

Tuesday, 15 July 2014

Yesterday saw D. Dominick Lombardi's article, Repurposing With a Passion, appear in the Arts and Culture section of the Pulitzer Prize winning, digital media enterprise, the Huffington Post.
The article is about recycled materials in art, and in it Lombardi asks a number of artists from around the world these four questions -

1. What sorts of materials do you recycle in your art, and where do you find them?

2. What specific incident or realization, if any, brought you to incorporate discarded materials in the making of your art?

3. What message do you hope to send to the viewers of your art in terms of esthetics and ecology?

4. Do you have a political or philosophical agenda?

Below is the section of the article that features my response to the questions asked, but to see the full article click here.

From his studio in London, England, Wayne Chisnall creates art that references such things as structure, time and Modernism as they pass through a very contemporary mindset that focuses on humor, transience, functionality and futility. There is also the presence of popular culture in his thinking, as he addresses the differences between reality and perception, and how that affects the needs, wants and even the formation of the human psyche.

Mr. Chisnall's responses:"Although I have used plastic toys (which I collected from regular visits to car-boot sales, long before I knew what I was going to do with them) in one of my sculptures I am normally drawn to materials that I feel have a certain 'resonance'. These are usually organic materials that have either interacted in some way with the environment or with people. The materials vary according to the individual project but I generally use anything from wood, metal, glass, human hair, insects to bones and teeth."

"As I prefer to use existing materials as opposed to freshly manufactured ones I tend to find my materials from all around me. This can become a slight problem however as I have a tendency to hoard more stuff than I will ever use."

"The rusty nails and screws that I used to complete my Nail Box sculpture where mostly just picked up off the ground and collected over a four year period. Although most of the nails were found here in London, a good portion of them were also collected whilst I was travelling round Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Europe, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Mexico and the US. A couple of them even came from inside the dome of Saint Paul's Cathedral, when I was working there on a project."

"One of the most abundant sources of materials for me over the last decade has been the skip where I work. I'm fortunate enough to work part-time at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and with it being the biggest, if not the oldest, design museum in the world it produces an interesting array of waste materials (old and new)."

"The work of animators such as the Brothers Quay and Jan Švankmajer inspires me. As a child I grew up in awe of their dark animated short films and was hypnotized by the way in which they imbued tatty old bits of detritus with life. I don't know if this is where I gained my love of old things or if it just reaffirmed my passion for them, but either way, when I moved from 2D to 3D and started employing the use of found materials in my work, I felt that I was finally being true to myself as an artist."

"Through my art, I hope to show that there's a richness and beauty to be found in old and used objects that isn't evident in newly manufactured goods. By using materials that already show signs of their own personal histories I hope to build narratives where much of the story telling is already in place. Used objects tend to have an evident patina which we can all comprehend and by building with ready-loaded materials we can communicate with the viewer at an already engaged level."

Monday, 7 July 2014

As you
can see from this recent photos from my studio, my tattooed Tumour Box sculpture
is progressing nicely. Most of the additional box sections have already been
constructed (unless I deceide to let the piece grow totally out of control) but until I come up with the rest of the requisite drawings and transpose them
to the sculpture's, now multifaceted, surface I can't actually start gluing any
of the parts together.

First
I have to construct every section, work out how it will all eventually fit
together, come up with a separate drawing for each section (working out how
each drawing will flow over the various planes and fit in with all the drawings
covering the rest of the piece), transfer each drawing to its relevant section,
and only then will I get to the fun bit of sticking it all together.

One of
the difficulties of constructing the individual sections in the first place is
that until the sections that go before them are actually glued in place to the
main body of the sculpture, it's hard to work out the dimensions for these
later sections. But I suppose that the challenge is part of the fun - at least
it keeps the grey matter ticking.

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Biog

Based in London since 1999, Chisnall now divides his time and art practice between London and his new, larger studio in Shropshire. Coming from an illustration, painting and print-making background he is now as well known for his sculptures and drawings.

In 2005 he was awarded a bursary and membership from the Royal British Society of Sculptors.

As well as his work appearing in UK and international exhibitions, magazines, on record covers, and on TV (including BBC 2's 'The Culture Show', Channel 4 News, London Live, and Channel 4's 'Four Rooms'), his sculptures have appeared in the feature film, 'Scratch', directed by Jakob Rørvik. In 2013 he was commissioned to produce a series of paintings for the horror film 'Bliaze of Gory'.

The artist's work is featured regularly in on-line articles and interviews, including two separate articles in The Huffington Post.

Chisnall has organised and run art/sculpture workshops for schools and businesses since 1998, including ones for ING Bank's London headquarters via the Royal British Society of Sculptors.

John Malkovich chose Chisnall's script, 'Doppelganger', as the winning entry in the 2008 Sony VAIO Scriptwriting competition. This script, along with Malkovich's was then turned into the short animated film, ‘Snow Angel’.

“ … I’m going to go with the “Doppelganger” script. It’s clever, inventive, and somehow both surprising and inevitable. Very neatly done all in all.” John Malkovich (4th Jan. 2008).

As well as working on his own projects the artist accepts commissions. His clients include Mary Fox Linton, Andy Martin Architects, Converse, Dawood and Tanner, Domus, Ctrl.Alt.Shift, private collectors, and the Ping Pong restaurant chain.

Artist's Statement

Most of my current sculptural work involves the reworking and assemblage of found materials; materials that I feel have a certain ‘resonance’.

Memory, or its fallibility, is also central to a lot of my work. This is more strongly evident in my early pieces, which incorporate or recreate childhood artifacts and toys. A prime example of this is ‘And When I’m a Man I'll Think As a Man’, the life size sculpture of myself as a twelve piece, pre-assembly, model kit. An important aspect of the piece is its bright green colour, which was chosen to match my memory of that of a childhood toy – realizing that the memory would have mutated; exaggerating the luridness of the colour.

Another re-occurring theme or motif in my work is that of the wheeled box or tower, which relates to containment, the urge to possess, and restricted mobility.

As well as the obvious sexual interpretation of the orifice element that has emerged in many of my recent works, my main interest in the device, lies in it being the portal between the internal and the external.

Although not a film maker myself, my work is heavily influenced by my early passion for film and animation. This is evident in my archaic-looking tower sculpture, ‘The City,’ which echoes the same fairy tale or dream-like quality that is characteristic of the short films of animators such as the Brothers Quay and Jan Švankmajer.

“Chisnall’s towering wooden piece is made up of tiny display cases and cabinets made from found materials like skulls, insects and fossils, a kind of modern cabinet of curiosities. Or a nightmarish vision inspired by Jorge Luis Borges. He explains that much like the inhabitants of a big city, each compartmentalised environment plays out its own narrative, seemingly oblivious to that of its neighbour”. Julia Kollewe (journalist – The Guardian and The Independent), 2009.

“...Wayne Chisnall creates art that references such things as structure, time and Modernism as they pass through a very contemporary mindset that focuses on humor, transience, functionality and futility. There is also the presence of popular culture in his thinking, as he addresses the differences between reality and perception, and how that affects the needs, wants and even the formation of the human psyche.” D. Dominick Lambardi, 'Repurposing With a Passion', The Huffington Post, July 14th 2014.